Summary

Chinese leaders see tissue engineering as a promising area for innovation. In recent years, China's national grant programs have singled out this field, along with other aspects of biomaterials research, for growth. From 1999 to 2009, according to a recent analysis by the Boston-based technology consulting firm Lux Research, more than $80 million from various government channels went to tissue engineering and stem cell research in the country. While the government tends not to release funding totals for specific research areas, intensive government investment in stem cells didn't pick up until 2011. With calls for the Chinese biomedical materials industry to quintuple its share of the global market by 2050, such funding will almost certainly increase in decades to come.